The derivations of names of various points, places, objects, etc., is a matter of more or less interest, and the manner of their adoption is gone and lost sight of before we begin to think of the incidents connected with their naming, and now all the mountains, streams, springs, valleys and places are named in days gone by and practically all of them have some original interest to the after dwellers of the country, but they soon become matters of tradition. Thus, "Sewell Mountain" in some of the histories, was named for Sewell, or Suel, the first settler, when he and Marlin first settled at the mouth of Knapp's Creek, at Marlin’s bottom in Pocahontas County. They resided as monarchs of the entire wilderness until they had personal differences about religion, when they parted. Sewell going into a large, hollow tree, later removing west on to the mountain and near the creek which bears his name to this day, "Sewell Mountain" and "Sewell Creek," and at which place he was finally slain by the Indians, as did Marlin’s Bottom take its name from Marlin, who settled there with Suel.



Green Sulphur Springs has no history in its name, except to designate it from the other springs in this region. The names of places frequently follow the proprietor or occupant; thus, Barger’s Springs was at one time “Carden’s” the owner; then “Barger’s,” and now the “Greenbrier,” a name given by the present company. Keatley’s Spring, near Hinton, was so called after Henry Keatley, an aged citizen, who lived by it for a number of years.


Pence’s Spring was named for Andrew P. Pence, who acquired the property in the seventies, and exploited it, bringing it to the attention of the general public, and to his enterprise and energy is due the honor for its present fame. It was once known as Buffalo Spring, as it was a noted lick for buffaloes and deer in the early days, as was also the Green Sulphur Spring, at which there was a fort. This fort was built by the Indians, and was a kind of stone breastwork built across the bottom in the meadow below the spring. The outlines are distinctly visible at this day. Many arrow heads and curious shaped stones are still plowed up and found in numbers in this bottom.



There are interesting traditions in regard to the discovery and naming of New River, the principal river of this section of West Virginia. It is claimed by Major Hotchkiss that it was named by a man by the name of New, who had a ferry somewhere in the upper territory. It is claimed by others that it was, when discovered, a new river, not shown by any maps, and for that reason took the name of New River from its source to its mouth. By others it is claimed that the entire river was known as the Kanawha from its source to its mouth. It was known as Wood’s River without any question for some time after its discovery, and is so shown on some of the old maps. The Kanawha River was not named, however, until 1770. In the Indian tongue it is the “River of the Woods,” but it had been discovered at the other end and known as New River and named after Col. Woods as Woods River many years before the Kanawha or River of the Woods was ever discovered.



Robert Lilly, the founder of the great generations of Lillys in the counties of Summers, Raleigh and Mercer, lived to be 114 years old, and his wife, who was a Moody, lived to be 111 years. On his grave has grown a white pine tree three feet in diameter at the stump, which was planted there by his granddaughter, the mother of (Curly) Joe Lilly, a justice of the peace and commissioner of the county court, who has died since this work began. Robert Lilly is buried at the mouth of Little Bluestone. This white pine is the tallest monument in the county to the oldest couple that ever lived in it, and the graveyard where Robert Lilly is buried is the oldest in the county. It was begun by the burial of a child therein from a train of emigrants passing through the country, and its coffin was of chestnut oak bark. Its name is lost to history. Robert Lilly first settled on Bluestone on the farm on which (Curly) Joe Lilly resided at the date of his death in 1906.



As all buffaloes disappeared like the Indians, with the advancement of civilization, the deer were plentiful, and middle-aged men can yet remember watching the deer licks at night behind blinds and killing them, but they, too, are now a thing of the past.



The name "Kanawha" was given to the river between 1760 and 1770, and when this name was given it, it already had a name, as herein stated. Kanawha probably took its name from the Conoys, a tribe of Indians, as there is great variety in the spelling of the name. Wyman's map of the British Empire in 1770 calls it the Great Conoway, or Wood River. Kanawha County was formed by an act of the Legislature of Virginia in 1789, and therein it was spelled "Kenhawa." Daniel Boone spelled it in his survey in 1791, "Conhawway." If this river now had its original and proper name, it would be "Woods River" from its mouth to its source, or "New River" from its mouth to its source.